Having witnessed his junkie father killed Russell Stevens grows up to become a policeman and make a difference. When he is offered an undercover job by Gerald Carver he accepts and begins to build a relationship with David Jason in order to get to the main dealers. However as he is forced to deal drugs and kill to keep his cover he finds the lines between cop and criminal being lost – is he a cop pretending to be a dealer or a dealer pretending to be a cop Larry (as he was then) Fishburne's first lead role was a typically dark vehicle. The story is the usual one of cop losing himself when undercover, however it manages to be more than that for most of the time. Co-written by Tolkin, who wrote The Player, this naturally has a nice cynical edge to it when it looks at the US's hypocritical approach to drug control and the political links between the street hustlers and the political high rollers who court respectability. The story does eventually settle into a traditional setting but even then it works well as a thriller. The multi-talented Bill Duke directs well with a gritty feel and a few nice touches. However several things are a bit iffy. For most of the film Fishburne's narrationvoice over is a bit like a cross between Apocalypse Now and Blade Runner – it comes across as a little too dark and heavy and also explains things like we can't figure it out ourselves. However once you get into the film it's not as big a deal. My main problem lies with the characters. Fishburne is excellent, a real model of underlying anger and violence, Goldblum is good but perhaps a little OTT on the yuppieviolence thing, but there's good support from Smith and Spin City's beautiful (and often underused – but not here) Victoria Dillard. However the two main white characters (Goldblum and Smith) are both smeared with racist insinuations – Smith appears to insult his black officers and doesn't care about the junkies, while Goldblum is fascinated about all things black and talks about them as wild beautiful beasts and loves having sex with black'. These things aren't a major problem, but with basically only two white characters in it, it's a little worrying that both are given that edge. However these are minor complaints that get lost with a good thriller. Fishburne excels and Duke delivers a story that is a good thriller but also has a jaded, subversive edge.
13世纪,大英帝国在狮心王理查一世(丹尼·赫斯顿 Danny Huston 饰)的率领下与来犯的法国军队展开鏖战。孔武有力、骁勇善战的罗宾·朗斯特莱德(罗素·克劳 Russell Crowe 饰)是这群英国战士中的一员,作为射手的他曾随理查参加过十字军东征,在对法的战争中也表现勇猛。但是狮心王遭遇阴谋刺杀,罗宾接受与国王一同遇刺的罗伯特•洛克斯利的遗愿,摇身变成罗伯特回到英国。在王宫骗吃骗喝过后,罗宾如约来到罗伯特的故乡诺丁汉,他不仅得到罗伯特父亲的准许继续假扮其儿子,还意外得知了自己的身世之谜。与此同时,法国野心勃勃,觊觎着英国的领土,而英国国内又乱相丛生,危机四伏。 在暗潮涌动的大时代下,罗宾似乎明了了自己的生存使命,不久后他拿起长弓,投入深林,开启了经久不衰的罗宾汉的传说……